Watch a 1962 Newsreel Reporting the Cuban Missile Crisis in Progress

By Kasia Cieplak-Mayr von Baldegg

"50 years ago this week, the world teetered on the brink of nuclear war," Sara Lipk writes, looking back at The Atlantic's coverage of the crisis; "On October 14, 1962, a U.S. reconnaissance mission discovered medium-range ballistic missile sites in Cuba. The 13 days of brinkmanship that followed have been called the most dangerous episode in recorded history." Dated October 25, 1962, the archival Universal Studios newsreel below reveals the tense sequence of events that unfolded. Courtesy of the Internet Archive, the six-minute clip covers Adlai Stevenson speaking at the U.N., the military mobilization of both sides, and the cameras that discovered Cuban missile sites from the air. The dramatic music and voiceover are fitting, given that the segment was screened in movie theaters as a part of Universal Studios' bi-weekly news series.